1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic books.
2. Description of the Related Art
Replacing paper books with electronic devices enables more compact storage and ease of access to written information. For instance, a single small electronic device can store many books, including books that might be downloaded instantaneously at any time via the Internet. Further, electronic books can be backed up, so that physical damage to the device does not necessarily correspond to a loss of content. Additionally, many electronic books provide the capability of annotating the displayed content as desired. Even further, to accommodate sight-impaired readers, some electronic books audibly display content using synthesized speech.
Unfortunately, existing electronic book devices do not fully exploit many of the advantages they might otherwise. For instance, while some books might audibly display content, they do not provide a reciprocal means for accepting non-written input from the visually impaired user. Further, electronic devices that are configured for playing synthesized speech typically do not also provide a visual display as a convenience for sighted users, and vice-versa. Not surprisingly, since existing electronic book devices are single mode, no capability has been provided to manage and coordinate plural modes of input and output. Still further, as recognized herein visually impaired users could be accommodated by providing the capability to resize text without requiring the user to wait until a large print version of the book is published, but unfortunately this is not routinely done. In any case, existing electronic book devices are simply not as useful to certain users as they might otherwise be. The present invention has carefully considered the above problems and has provided the solutions to one or more of them as set forth herein.